Two of Britain’s classic lunchbox biscuits have reduced their cocoa content so much that they cannot legally be described as chocolate. Club and Penguin, both manufactured by Pladis, the owner of McVitie’s, have been reformulated, resulting in the coating being downgraded to “chocolate flavour”. This has forced the retirement of Club’s classic ad slogan “If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit, join our Club” in favour of the less punchy “If you like a lot of biscuit in your break, join our Club”.
The Times (David Lamming)
Call the croc cops
Derbyshire Police’s rural crime team posted “the strangest appeal ever to grace our Facebook page”, after a member of the public spotted a crocodile dumped in a canal in Willington. The team soon had an explanation. “A member of [the] public has come forward and explained that the crocodile was a stuffed taxidermy one, filled with hay, and inadvertently caught while fishing.”
Sky News (Steve Morley)
Train of thoughtfulness
A dress made entirely of woollen poppies has been created by a group of knitters to mark Remembrance Week. The garment, which features a 12ft-long train, was made using 175 balls of wool and took Ripon Community Poppy Project volunteers at least 1,000 hours to knit. The striking red frock is to be modelled by soprano signer Charlotte Potter at a Remembrance concert in Ripon Cathedral on 6 November.
BBC Yorkshire (Adam Robertson)
[Further reading: Is Britain a high-tax country?]
Content from our partners
Related
This article appears in the 30 Oct 2025 issue of the New Statesman, No More Kings
Join the debate
Subscribe here to comment